The Swiss International Olympic Committee member will officially get the historic event - it will be the first time that freestyle skiing and snowboarding have staged a joint World Championships - in Kreischberg underway with the Opening Ceremony tomorrow.

"This is sure to be an exciting 10 days of skiing and snowboarding action," Kasper said.

"Very few nations and venues could take on hosting such a huge event for the first time, but with the proven know-how of the Austrian Ski Association and their specialist organiser in Kreischberg, I am sure that everything is prepared for a top-rate championship in the true spirit of freestyle skiing and snowboard."

Some 700 athletes - 330 freestyle skiers and 350 snowboarders - representing more than 35 nations are expected to compete across the 24 medal events, which include aerials, moguls, dual moguls, slopestyle, halfpipe and ski cross in freestyle skiing and parallel slalom, parallel giant slalom, big air and snowboard cross in snowboarding.

Some 700 athletes - 330 freestyle skiers and 350 snowboarders - will compete across 24 medal events in Austria ©Getty Images


The competition is scheduled to begin with the men's and ladies' aerials taking place directly after the Opening Ceremony tomorrow evening.

ORF is the host broadcaster, and there will be live and delayed international feeds available, with highlights footage and interviews.

Meanwhile in the United States, Universal Sports Network will present 18 hours of exclusive multi-platform coverage of the event both on air and at UniversalSports.com.

Live coverage will also be available online through the FIS freestyle skiing and snowboard YouTube channels and daily video tweets will be distributed from the FIS Twitter account.

The Freestyle Skiing and Snowboarding World Championships will continue until January 25.

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